The Narrow Gate

The Narrow Gate

Attention technique: As you can see, I am holding a plane ticket of the Cebu Pacific Air Lines. This ticket offered me the luxury of taking pictures of the various formations of the clouds. It allowed me to enjoy an aerial view of the different islands of Visayas and Mindanao. This ticket became my pass to the door of the 5J963 Cebu Pacific airplane.

Today’s Gospel talks about the ticket to enter the kingdom of God. We heard someone asking Jesus, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” Jesus did not answer the question with a categorical “Yes” or “No.” Instead, Jesus replied, “People will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.” Jesus further stressed, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” From these words of Jesus, we can reflect on two (2) different points. The first is the reality or the picture of those who try to enter the kingdom of God. The second is Jesus’ command and challenge in order to enter the narrow gate.

Let us reflect on the first one — on the reality or picture about the narrow gate. Jesus said, “Many will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” This was as if Jesus was saying that many could not meet the demands of the narrow gate; many could not keep its rules; many could not tolerate its difficulties. We might ask, “What does the narrow gate demand from us?” It is simple; they are the two (2) great commandments of God – to love God above all things and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. It also includes the popular phrase, “do good and avoid evil.” They are simple commandments but for most of us, it becomes very difficult because there are certain things that make us weak. What makes us weak in entering the kingdom? What are the hindrances in our way to the narrow gate? We can enumerate a number of things. To mention a few, we have pride — our pride urges us to break rules and regulations and it leads us to defy orders. Our pride pushes us to insist on what we want and become unyielding to what we should rightfully do. Our pride makes us boastful and drives us to look down on other people. Another is gossip — gossip can destroy relationships between and among people and could even tarnish the dignity of a person. Selfishness and greed are also stumbling blocks in our quest to the narrow gate because these make us self-centered and cause us to willfully neglect the needs of others. Last, our attachment to material things, especially to our wealth or money. Wealth and money are not bad per se. They become evil only when we misuse them; when we allow them to manipulate or rule over us; when we feel that they are the only things in life that keep us going; when we become a slave of our money and possessions; and when we feel that we can take control over the whole situation or other people provided that we have money and power. The attachment to the worldly things deviates our attention to God. We tend to forget that we have a God who provides for our daily needs — our Divine Providence.

Allow me to share a story about greediness, selfishness, and pride. The situation was this: For several years, my father had been working as a Bill Clerk in a prominent bus company plying the Northern Luzon to Manila route. When an internal problem in the bus company he was working for had occurred, the monthly payroll of its employees was delayed. The bus company withheld the salaries of some of its employees without any justifiable reason. Thus, most of my father’s co-employees were forced to resign in order to seek other work opportunities just to make both ends meet. It was really disheartening to see that these hardworking people were unlawfully deprived of the very source of their livelihood due to the unusual action of the company. My father stayed on for four months more. In February of this year, as he sensed that no salary was still forthcoming, he tendered his resignation with a heavy heart. It was a no-win-situation. I know how dedicated my father was to his work. He willingly rendered additional services, sometimes even beyond offices hours, but without any overtime compensation. He could have stayed on with the company perhaps until his retirement age, but the harsh situation compelled him to do otherwise. Not receiving one’s monthly salary on time proved to be very difficult, especially when there were many financial obligations to settle. It was disappointing to know that many employees of that bus company were left with no option but to resign. They were unjustly treated for no valid reason at all. As a consequence of the company’s greed and cling to money, many employees suffered.

The experience of my father and his co-workers was a test that gave them an opportunity to explore other possibilities that came their way. There must be a reason why it happened. If we are faced with such problems, God might want us to do something better.

This leads us to the second point of reflection — about Jesus’ words, “Strive to enter the narrow gate.” It seems that these words appear to be both a command and a challenge. It is as if Jesus was trying to say, “Go the extra mile and make an extra effort to walk the road toward the narrow gate.” The Second Reading gives us a tip in entering the narrow door. It says, “Endure your trials as discipline; strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.” Trials and tribulations cannot be avoided; they come to us in different ways any time, any day. Trials can come in the form of the anxiety of a student preparing for a quiz or a Board examination; the parents having a son or daughter who prefers to stay in the company of his or her friends and comes home late at night; the difficulty of a person seeking gainful employment; one’s experience of rejection; one who is in the edge of giving up when confronted with an unfavorable situation, and many other less smooth-sailing scenarios. These are part of the ingredients of life. Trials are enemies to those who are disturbed by it and those who consider it as a burden while they become tools for improvements to those who face it with a positive outlook and right attitude. It is just a matter of how we view it. It is like a glass of water with the contents half-filled. To the optimist, one will say, “Look, the glass of water is half-filled. It will only take a little while for it to be filled to the brim.” In a matter of time, one can pull through and eventually survive the situation, no matter how difficult it may be. On the other hand, a pessimist would say, “Oh no, the glass water is already half-empty. Soon, it will become empty.” With this attitude, one becomes perennially stuck in the web of the difficult situation and finds it very hard to get out of it. Trials have good effects and this was affirmed in the Second Reading, “At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.”

Aside from enduring trials as discipline, another clue given to us by Jesus in entering the narrow gate is found at the latter part of the Gospel that says, “Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” Jesus was referring to those people who do small things with sincerity, humility, dedication, and love; those who render service to others without counting the cost; those who work selflessly without waiting for a reward; those who work silently with grateful hearts; and those who look after the welfare of others. Those who enter the narrow gate follow the unusual path and the road less traveled; they focus their eyes on Jesus; and they keep their minds and hearts on the commandments of God. Jesus encourages us to do the same.

Let us go back to the plane ticket. Before I enjoyed the luxury of taking pictures of the different cloud formations and the pleasure of having an aerial view of the islands of the Visayas and Mindanao, I had to enter the door of the plane 5J963. I went through a process. I patiently stood in line along with the other passengers — co-Filipinos, Americans, and Chinese waiting for our respective turns. I followed the instructions of the airport guard who told me to take off my wrist watch, eyeglasses, belt, and shoes for safety and security measures. Another airport personnel weighed in my baggage and gave a clearance that I did not bring any prohibited materials. I showed my plane ticket to the person at the counter who validated it. Thereafter, I waited at the terminal until the security guard opened the door and allowed each of the passengers to enter the plane.

Inside the plane, I had so much fun taking pictures of the cloud formations and the islands and seas we hovered. How much more when we are inside the narrow gate of heaven? Entering the door of an airplane is so easy, one merely needs to follow the instructions. Entering the narrow gate is so difficult because it requires a lot of sacrifices on our part. We have to let go of our personal desires and let God’s plan work in us. These sacrifices are made possible if we become faithful to the Word of God and His commands. Our ticket to the narrow gate is simply our discipline and our good and right attitude toward others, toward events and situations that we encounter, and toward God. It is only then when we ask for the grace of God that we can make it to the narrow gate.

I was about to end my reflection when I received a text message from a friend that says, “People may be unkind, just be kind; they may cheat you, just be honest; they may forget your good deeds, just do good. In the end it’s between you and God, not you and them.” That was a simple text message that teaches us to follow the unusual path, the difficult path toward the narrow gate. Amen.